High-quality in the spirit of the times

As cities and their populations grow, housing needs also become more varied. It is easiest to respond to new housing requests when designing new apartments and planning repairs. At the same time, we can improve the energy consumption of buildings.

SATO builds its SATO RentHomes or acquires new apartments from contractors. When we decide to build new buildings, we assess which apartments are suitable for rental activities and which will be sold off as owner-occupied homes.

Own production of rental apartments offers benefits

By steering the design of SATO RentHomes, we can utilise our decades of knowledge of the apartment types our customers want to live in, and of the maintenance of the value and usability of apartments over time. We provide architects and engineers with guidelines that indicate our objectives and the support of our interior designers.

In the cities where SATO operates, there is mainly demand for smaller apartments. The building materials we use are durable and easy to care for. Factors that support living comfort improve attractiveness. These include glazed balconies, pleasant materials, colours matching the spirit of the building and functional apartments.

At the end of the year, over 1,200 rental apartments were under construction for SATO in Finland and during the financial year, a total of roughly 650 rental apartments were completed for the Group in Finland.

During the reporting year, the construction of the first SATO StudioHomes was launched in Martinlaakso, Vantaa, beside the SATO-owned block of rental apartments. The functionality and comfort of the surroundings of the existing building will improve simultaneously. A total of 68 StudioHomes, large enjoyable shared facilities and a communal service model will be completed in autumn 2017. This concept of reasonably priced rental apartments has raised interest among customers and attracted a lot of positive attention in the media.

Maintenance and quality improvements through repairs

SATO renovates its rental apartments and properties according to lifecycle principles and to improve comfort of living. During the reporting year, we invested a total of roughly EUR 45 million in the repair of apartments and properties, of which repair investments accounted for EUR 24 million.

The start-up of renovations and new production was subsidised by a total of roughly EUR 1 million. Some renovations are so extensive technically that it is impossible to live at home during the repairs. During the reporting year, there were 470 such apartments with 920 residents. We provided the residents with the opportunity to find a new home from the range of rental apartments offered by SATO.

Energy efficiency investments EUR 1.3 million.

Energy efficiency

In its agreement signed with the European Investment Bank, SATO is committed to the construction of new nearly zero-energy buildings and repairs to improve the energy efficiency of the Group's current rental apartments during the next few years. The value of the investments covered by the agreement totals EUR 300 million.

To help the planning of repairs that improve energy efficiency, we have developed an indicator which measures the energy efficiency of each property.

SATO Corporation is one of the biggest lessors in Finland. Our aim is to offer a comprehensive range of rental apartments and services and an excellent customer experience. SATO owns a total of roughly 25,300 rental apartments in Finland's largest growth centres and in St. Petersburg in Russia. Our operations support the vitality of cities and extensively improve general wellbeing. The fair value of our housing assets is roughly EUR 3.4 billion.